A podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga! Plus anime news / reviews, coverage of classic anime, hentai / yaoi, and much, much more. Updated every week. We hope.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

As a result of the hidden catches of web hosting, this podcast MAY VANISH FOREVER (or temporarily), but not before Gerald reviews Astro Fighter Sunred, Clarissa reviews Ristorante Paradiso, and Daryl reviews Sword of the Stranger!

Introduction (0:00 - 36:00)For many, the last podcast returned Bandwidth Exceeded errors. That's a misnomer, as what we've actually exceeded is our CPU/RAM usage on the server. As our existing AWO funds are insufficient, we're gonna have to beg for money. But it's just for a little bit, as we get back on the track we're always at: belittling our very own listeners for watching terrible anime. In this case, Girls Bravo. Evan from Ani-Gamers asks about anime with notable mid-series staff changes. To which we say, Benjamin Ettinger: he's Jerry Beck approved! We're also asked questions regarding the almighty Patlabor 2 (which we reviewed a while back) and our thoughts on the X TV series.

Let's News! (36:00 - 58:29)Taro Aso steps down as Japan's Prime Minister. As Daryl said on his Twitter way back in August, "you and your crew run a nation with an iron fist for 50 years. Then you say you like Rozen Maiden and it all falls apart. Instant justice." ADV rose from the dead, the author of Crayon Shin-Chan fell to the dead, Kadokawa Pictures USA missed one life support call, and Astro Boy was DOA. Ouch. On the bright side, Prince Planet is now streaming on Hulu and Youtube, so go watch it because the current season of anime is almost entirely awful. And read Dave Merrill's posts about it. And Clarissa's favorite franchise, for which the latest installment is upon us all and for Internet cred purposes she pretends to hate, is having an art contest as judged by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and videogame crazy man Hideo Kojima.

Review: Astro Fighter Sunred (58:29 - 1:18:23)It is like an Adult Swim show, back when Adult Swim was good. It is also the biographical story of Brian Smith, last heard on the AWA 2009 con report we posted prior to this.

Review: Ristorante Paradiso (1:18:23 - 1:40:39)As best as we can tell, this is a show about DILFs serving food that is classy, and therefore does not have anything such as this in it:

A visual aid will probably be helpful for those of you wondering about Ono Natsume's style. It's definitely very distinctive from what you would expect. Some of her works, like Coppers, have even more heavily stylized artwork.

Here's an example of the original manga artwork compared with how it translated into anime. It doesn't translate over super well, but enough of the proportions are retained that it "feels" similar.

Review: Sword of the Stranger (1:40:39 - 2:10:09)Yes, this was a review copy. But it is still the Greatest Movie EVER! PS: Paul Chapman's podcast is currently gone because he's beset by the exact same problem as us.

Closing (2:10:09 - 2:15:14)The next episode is already recorded! Probably months ago, by this point. We just don't quite have a place to upload it to! But our guest is none other than Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, and thus it is only fitting that we do an all-manga episode. Clarissa's falling into the spiral of Uzumaki, Daryl's going out with a bang courtesy of Violence Hero Riki-Oh, and Gerald's venturing into the holy land of Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami with Crying Freeman. YOU TOTALLY WANT TO LISTEN TO THAT.

102 comments:

I unfortunately saw Astro Boy in the theaters... 90% of the people there were kids and their parents (which I guess makes sense since it was during the school holidays). I was cringing with all the bad dialogue and then there was a scene where they played Alright by Supergrass and I was rolling my eyes at that scene. I can agree that it would seem to be for kids only.

Hmmm, the only thing I can think of from Sailor Moon as far as staff changes was Sailor Stars where they changed character designer.

hey guys i really hope u guys stay in podcasting we need more people to stick it to the niche i for 1 will try to donate money to u but as a broke ass blogger and student il try to scarp any money i have in euros and ship it over to u

If you could get more people using the torrent that would cut down on the bandwidth. There's no limit on torrents (aside from ISP capping).

Smaller podcasts would help, even though that would mean shortening the length of the podcast. Maybe giving yourself a time limit as to the length of the show.

You could also consider using the Internet Archive to store the files. It's free. You just need to license the files as Creative Commons or Public Domain. I use it (alongn with Blogger and Mininova) and I've never paid a cent for my podcasts. Although most of my downloads come from Mininova.

Daryl-I know that you want more films like Sword in the Stranger but really they have to make what's going to sell in Japan first. And for the most part, people there just don't care for samurai stuff anymore.

Also you forgot to mention the best possible news in a long time. That Hidamari Sketch is FINALLY getting an R1 DVD release.

I acutally showed Sword of the Stranger to a bunch of my friends (two of whom routinely hate on anime) and they loved it. I think we all agreed though that the dog was by far and away the best character. It's too bad about the dub though as it's something they should have had somebody other then the Ocean Group handling especially since it's a prime candidate for selling to your average moviegoer.

Also have to echo the recommendation of picking this up on Blu-Ray if you got it.

I also find it interesting you guys saying the Girl who Leapt Through Time not selling well as most of the anime people I know its one of the few DVD's they will actually buy. Usually these are the kind of people too who will just download your average moe or harem show but acutally spend the money on a movie like that.

Oh and I finally got to see Odin and just like that emailer I have to agree it was bad. While I don't think it's as terrible as AWO made it out to be, it was definitely cheesy. I did like the part when the crew was fighting that big multi legged robot but um yeah, I see what you guys mean now. Maybe it was just the year it came out 1985, that made the whole thing worse as really awesome things like Zeta Gundam, Megazone 23, Dancougar and Iczer-1 came out the same year.

least one or two snot-nosed brats and their moms there to constantly ask questions to.

I was cringing with all the bad dialogue and then there was a scene where they played Alright by Supergrass and I was rolling my eyes at that scene. I can agree that it would seem to be for kids only.

In my opinion, this is a "stupid-fun-kiddie flick". It's not a film for US, nor should we even bother seeing it besides renting it later out of sheer curiosity (which I should have done).

While it definitely tanked in Japan, apparently it went over big in China anyway, since they can't tell shit from Shinola anyway (and I"m not saying that to sound racist). :-)

Really, it's just not our film, though it was nice they bothered with making it. I'd rather see the company go under anyway.

VZ said... Daryl-I know that you want more films like Sword in the Stranger but really they have to make what's going to sell in Japan first. And for the most part, people there just don't care for samurai stuff anymore.

You go home!

soundwaveCA said... I also find it interesting you guys saying the Girl who Leapt Through Time not selling well as most of the anime people I know its one of the few DVD's they will actually buy. Usually these are the kind of people too who will just download your average moe or harem show but acutally spend the money on a movie like that.

Well glad to hear people do care about that one (I'm still waiting for a Blu-Ray release myself but bet that'll never happen).

Glad you guys also try to knock sense into the Girls Bravo dude. More need to learn before it's too late (and being caught by his own mom too)!

I'll have to check out the titles in this month's podcast if I get around to it (and perhaps donate if I have anything left in checking), joyfully dancing on graves til the cows come home!

Great show guys, been really missing a typical AWO episode. Daryl's "SUTORENJAA" review was right on, and I totally agree with it - I lucked out and caught that in the theater, and it was totally worth it. Daryl, your review of it actually reminded me a lot about many of the reviews on the recent CG film "9", and if you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend it (disclaimer: I worked as a story artist on it) based on your previous tastes on films in general.

I hope the move to libsyn is successful - maybe having too many listeners is a good problem...

I watched an early screening of Astro Boy, and my first impression was it tried to appeal to everyone. It ultimately failed to appeal to anyone.

The writer and director took many liberties with the story. They've created new characters and added plot elements. I knew that the hardcore Tezuka fans were going to pick it apart.

Imagi Studios was counting on Astro Boy to save them since they were having financial troubles. They actually had to borrow money from Chinese investors. Since I don't think they are going to see any returns, I highly doubt that Gatchaman is going to get made.

I did get the chance to talk to David Bowers (director), but the PR person was completely tight lipped about the film. I got no real answers. He was kind enough to pose for this photo:

In TV anime, if you read the credits (or can differentiate between what name-kanji look like but just can't quite read them) you'll see that there are always different episode directors (enshutsu) and animation directors (sakuga kantoku) that work on each episode. I think it's particularly noticeable in older anime, and if you have a good eye you can pick out various animation director's styles. Maybe in recent years direction in general has become tighter which has lead to shows looking a bit more consistent. That's my observation, at any rate. As Clarissa mentioned, entire animation teams change between episodes as well.

I haven't seen Abenobashi, but I suspect that the core staff remained the same (it tends to do so for TV anime) but they probably just directed it all fast and loose.

Sunred is certainly a great show, and it's nice to see it get some press. I actually do think it stays true to the initial premise of "weird guys doing normal things" but the situations tend to all be very creative, so it's consistently funny. ANBU's subtitle job localizes too much for tastes (Seriously? Dollars? That shit gets you NOWHERE in Japan) but generally does a good job of capturing the feel of the original Japanese.

Its low budget is probably due to the fact that it was originally aired on Nico Nico Douga, so it wasn't some big TV production at first.

And tentacle porn has not disappeared from ero-anime or the fan scene in general... just lettin' ya know.

Canaan isn't connected to Nasu Kinoko or Type Moon outside of the character designs. It's loosely based around a scenario in the Japanese Wii game 428 written by Nasu, but the anime is actually written by some rising-star scenario writer whose name escapes me. It doesn't even adapt the events in the game, and I'm not even sure if the characters are consistent. Aside from a weak middle section, it's a pretty strong show with some of the best action I've ever seen since Cowboy Bebop. The first episode seems more like a movie than TV show, and the rest of the series more or less maintains that standard. Some plot elements are kind of silly, but I had a good time with it.

As a podcaster myself, I'd say 90% of post AWO podcasts owe it to AWO for podcasting in the first place. I'd train carrier pigeons to litter the streets with USB sticks full of AWO episodes if I could.

It's interesting listening about Sunred. In some ways it reminds me of an old indy comic called 'Ultra Klutz', then as Gerald went on it sounded more and more like a mashup of Excel Saga, Perfectual Earth Defense Force and a big heaping of Sgt. Frog.

I wonder if this was one of Bandai/Sunrise's penta-annual 'make a show for America!' (because it sure sounds like it would 'localize quite easily) things that, alas, too bad so sad TOO LATE didn't anybody tell you IT'S OVER guys?

Sword and the Stranger was such a damn breath of fresh air. Action movies in general, not just Anime, have gotten to be so drawn out and full of themselves. I'm glad someone applied the K.I.S.S. principle and made a very solid movie. I'm so naming my next dog Tobimaru.

@Steve Harrison:Sunred could be easy to localize today. But like back in the day it would not fly because it's very apparent that it's Japan. You don't have people waiting in line for MELON-PAN in America, for example.

As for the Excel Saga comparison, not really. Sunred is much more dry and to the point, where as Excel saga is overblown and uh, "XDDD" as the kids say.

I'm going to answer Daryl's response to that guy that talked about watching Girl's Bravo. I just think many people tend to actually prefer to watch shows that have fanservice/ecchi but WITHOUT the dicking. Now watching a show that has nipples or none is another matter (seriously, Funimation put an TV-MA on the Negima OVA's and they have NO nudity whatsoever).

Oh and you failed to mention Dairugger XV is FINALLY getting a release date.

Did Gerald really say that Sword of the Stranger was the kind of show a bunch of black people would like?! I'm not sure that prefacing a statement like that with "Pardon my language, but..." makes it okay. Come on now! If I'm missing something here, please feel free to explain.

I feel absolutely no need to defend Gerald, but I'll explain it to you. While not all black people go crazy and get amped during the course of watching their entertainment, some black people grew up in a situation where that's totally OK.

Some of us, the Wu Tang clan-esque subcategory of african-american male, if you will, enjoy crazy buckwild action flicks, like kung-fu flicks and the like.

So I totally see where Gerald was coming from. He just happened to say it when he was wearing his white face. Don't fucking Don Imus Gerald.

Now that you people have said that all of you have never seen CANAAN, I feel like I should watch the series now, if only to say I've watched something even the Anime World Order would fear to look upon...

Votoms! Each of the four arcs had different writers. One (Sunsa) even had a different animation director.

Lupin III Series 2! Especially at the end.

In fact, any show that ran longer than a year probably has staff changes just because there's no way to stay on it that long and NOT get burned out. Therefore, City Hunter, Dragonball, and Dr. Slump are candidates. Plus a little thing I like to call Hokuto no Ken. The tone changes noticeably from arc to arc, especially when it goes to Ken 2.

Fuck, I had a whole bunch of shit to write on this clip which got wiped out. And I'm gonna have to split it in two parts, to boot. Um, lemme see.

XTV is slow as hell, and mostly talky, which is great if you jerked off to the more pretentious parts of Death Note, but disappointing if you like Kawajiri-style action.

Sword of the Stranger is overrated as hell, and other than the pretty water-colors, is just basically a Don Bluth-wannabe with gore. Plus, I hate that Anakin-like smart-ass who follows the guy, and the whole"Let's skip the wholewar/espionage angle and just make the bad guys just stab each other in the back" second half. For me, the anime films which embody the best I haven't seen in a long time include Highlander and Ponyo. Oh, and Paprika and Tokikake.

The most fucked up hentai I've seen when I was younger would be Twin Dolls and Countdown. Oh, and some Ranma fan-made shit you can find on nameless torrent sites. Non-hentai which fucked me up would be the Bakshi Fritz the Cat and Meet the Feebles.

As for companies which fuck up, I don't normally get schaudenfruede from 'em, but anything run by Harvey Weinstein, as well as 4Kids, is fair game. The only thing stopping me from trashing BVUSA is the guy running it was well-intentioned, but clearly behind the times.

Ninja Scroll, for me, worked as an action-horror flick, but doesn't have much replay value, compared to Kawajiri's other stuff. The characters aren't memorable enough.

Astroboy's problem is that movies and shows featuring humanoid robots aren't that novel nowadays in today's society. Plus, Capcom's pretty much cornered that market here with Mega Man. But if it makes anime fans who wanted it to do better feel better, that Bruce Willis GITS movie bombed, too. Anyway, surprised you didn't mention Something Awful's review, since they liked it, even though they like trashing anime fans. As for Tomino, he endorsed the LA Aussie Gundam, so I'm not sure he's in the right to criticize AB.

The Hollywood One Missed Call was actually cheap for what it cost to produce, but you usually don't put your own money up for these things anyway. You let the studio handle it.

"What will they do for shows people actually like?"

Charge a fortune for the music rights to the point that licensors can't afford to even look at the series? Combine two different ovas together and try to charge you extra for a little footage which barely connects their stories together? Reboot shows you've seen before, but change the order certain sequences take place?

Um, what else? Sexy Losers is back on a semi-regular basis, but it sucks now.

And I think Darryl will agree with me that the only movie which deserves an Oscar for Best Picture this year is Black Dynamite.

soundwave: "I also find it interesting you guys saying the Girl who Leapt Through Time not selling well as most of the anime people I know its one of the few DVD's they will actually buy."

I hope not, either, but I'm guessing it's because there are too many girl-themed titles here which keep it from standing out better.

Chris: "While it definitely tanked in Japan, apparently it went over big in China anyway, since they can't tell shit from Shinola anyway (and I"m not saying that to sound racist). :-)"

Stephen Chow was saying on the CJ7 dvd that there's not a lot of family-themed entertainment in China right now, so I guess AB filled that void.

James: I don't think people are being fair to the Imagi AB, given that the original anime's already been rebooted twice in Japan. If you want a real childhood-raping, sit through Bayformers or DB:E. [Unless you were one of those people who don't mind, because TF was so "awesome" when Optimus Prime was turned into a CG gorilla during the BeastWars era. And Reboot rocked, too. And why don't they make cartoons like that and every Pixar movie anymore, because those were so original, unless they were downgraded to 2-d. But who the hell cares about if that shit comes off lifeless and cookie-cutter, as long as they do quirky things for half an hour? That's the stuff. Then you shouldn't be surprised that the Bay TF sucks, too. *returns John K. Stand to blog*] Imagi's AB was fine, though. Personally, I think they should've updated it more, 'cus it's hoakey by today's standards; but then people might end up comparing it to Pluto.

Goober: I've always thought the scroll was about referring to the animation. And maybe they were cashing in on Ninja Gaiden, since that sucker does have scrolls.

"Did Gerald really say that Sword of the Stranger was the kind of show a bunch of black people would like?!"

Nah, brothers like DBZ. They made that shit a brand name here long before FUNi had it. I even saw a dude wearing one of those bootleg Hawaiian shirts with Broli on it. I don't know why they consider a bunch of blonde-haired, blue-eyed guys their heroes, since they didn't give a fuck about Hulk Hogan, but Goku is their homeboy. And if you don't believe me, check out Weekly Tube Show at http://www.youtube.com/user/WeeklyTubeShow2 .

Also, as a DBZ fan, we didn't care who's blonde. We care who's gonna fuck shit up. I'd also like to point out that saiya-jins just have a REALLY highly advanced dying process. They're not full-time blondes.

Thanks for another great show, I'm sening in a donation as soon as payday comes.

Does anyone know what the deal is with those Sunred "Supplemental" videos? They look like clips from a variety show; did Sunred air as a feature within one of those shows?

I'd rather claw my eyes out with a Robert Pattinson-shaped dildo than watch a Type Moon or Beetrain show, but Canaan was actually good. Masahiro Ando puts together some damn good looking action scenes. The show is short and fast-paced, so it bucks the trend of the typical Type Moon emo molasses.

Well, anonymous, if you started your WWF watching in the 90s, then yes, Stone Cold it is. Again, I don't speak for all, but I believe that black people dug stone cold because he whupped ass, not because of some (alleged) wife beating or because of the blonde hair that used to be on his head.

I own not one, but two of the boxed editions of PATLABOR 2, and I love Arakawa, yet somehow I had never noticed he had a lazy eye. I guess that's what love does--you overlook such imperfections. I'll say that not only do I personally prefer the Main-gah dub of P2, I like its Arakawa better than the original Japanese performance. He seems more realistic and effective if he sounds less menacing.

GHOST IN THE SHELL is a more glamorous film than PATLABOR 2, and has always been much better known, but so far it's been P2 that better predicted the actual 21st century. This has been the decade of Arakawas...

Ironically, the reason Viz called the English version of X "X/1999" is because of Dark Horse; at the time, DH had a title called X. I would be more inclined to think CLAMP prefers to come back to the title later, than editorial or publishing conflicts prevent its conclusion. After all, they have continued to do other manga with Kadokawa, and Kadokawa certainly doesn't mind moving a manga to a different magazine if it's not working out there for one reason or another--KUROSAGI has bounced all over the place, and is still going.

Aoi Bungaku (Blue Literature) is another show worth watching this season. It's an anime adaptation of 6 classical Japanese works of literature works: No Longer Human, Run, Melos!, Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen), Kokoro and The Spider's Thread.

It's done by Madhouse.

I can't believe you don't know about it, bro. I highly recommend you check it out. It's by FAR the best show airing this season.

The lazy eye is indeed symbolism shorthand for a character of shifting allegiance or questionable moral fiber. If you'll recall the cyborg Buffalo Bill episode of Standalone Complex, there was a shylock CIA agent present who had a similar gimped eyeball. Kamiyama did state before that he copied a lot from his mentor Oshii in directing SAC.

P.S.: The fact that someone named "Robert Kelly" is jonesing to check out CANAAN is extremely unsettling.

Actually, Ristorante Paradiso didn't run on noitaminA. Eden of the East is the one that ran on noitaminA in the same season. It ran on Noise, an admittedly similarly-purposed time slot that also ran Aoi Hana and Michiko to Hatchin.

Also, some of the manga in Manga Erotics F is scanlated mostly (if not all) by Kotonoha such as Keep On Vibrating, Uncivilized Planet, and Bradherley's Coach.

Update on the hosting scenario: we have received enough donations to get this move started! Shows 1 through 10 as well as Shows 73 through 83 (plus some bonus episodes) are now hosted on Libsyn. Nothing has yet been deleted so either link will work for the time being; however, from this point on, we recommend using the Libsyn link where applicable to minimize stress on the current server.

Let me know if you experience any download problems. I'm not using Libsyn's built-in tools for blogging (don't intend to use this), RSS feed management (DO intend to use this!), etc. just yet.

Is one an import? Did you ever see WXIII? I forgot to bring my DVD sleeve of the Geneon SE for that to AX, back when Akemi Takada attended. ;-; She seemed totally unfamiliar with the bonus booklets for the regular editions of the first two movies from BVUSA.

Thanks for the timeslot tip, Brack and J. Ryo. You're indeed correct, it was a Noise series - you'd think I'd remember it since the simulcast had the fucking Noise logo thrown up before every episode. Ugh.

Everyone's my "homeboy" (1995?) as long as they're cool to me- and they have flaming auras.

Also, outside of the aliens like Goku and Vegeta, the other characters have actual racial backgrounds. I guess they're asian, or whatever country Dragonball takes place in. I guess it's Japan, or Japan at some period where anthropomorphic animals and demons walked around with little problem.

They're two copies of the U.S. Bandai Visual limited collector's edition. I did see Wasted Thirteen and agreed with Patrick Macias that it was an amazing evocation of daylight, walkabout Tokyo. The idea of a genetically engineered monster seemed somehow a step away from realism after P1 and P2, but of course, there's no such thing as Labors, so maybe that's a bogus criticism ^_^

Carl: I hope you got the edition with mini-Pato, cus that was sweet, in spite of the Geneon tax. Though it's a shame the seiyuu for Clancy died, and they didn't have her onboard for the project, because she was my favorite character. As for the premise for WXIII, I thought it matched the universe, considering the Godzilla spoof on the OVA.

vich: "Again, I don't speak for all, but I believe that black people dug stone cold because he whupped ass, not because of some (alleged) wife beating or because of the blonde hair that used to be on his head."

I know. I'm saying he lost popularity with the domestic abuse thing. And he was more popular 'cus of the shaved head.

arromdee: "Dragonball Z characters are pseudo-Asian. I don't think they count as homeboys."

Finally, it looks like, love or hate Eva 2.0, everyone's starting to admit the original show and movies were overrated. [ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/evangelion/2.0-you-can-not-advance http://www.colonydrop.com/index.php/2009/07/28/hideaki-anno-is-trying-to-kill-anime-and?blog=1 ] Thus. the next question is can the LA Cutey Honey and that hamster sex thing be responsible for the shift in fan opinions? Or is it just, like Pulp Fiction and QT in general, that it's now "safe" to acknowledge the first Eva not living up to the hype, because it's so old now? My feeling is that the reason people are finally recognizing that Anno has no clothes is because he rested on his laurels too long. Other directors like Kon, Otomo, Morimoto, and Oshii, are willing to expand into different arenas, but Anno's just slapping his name on anything which attracts attention. He's a one-hit wonder, and he knows it. That's why they're not as pissed off about Eva 2.0 as they are GITS 2.0.

Yeah, because two sources means that "Everyone" believes Evangelion is overrated. Isn't everything that gets any modicum of popularity "overrated," as you say? Who cares about public opinion when it comes to entertainment. Does it increase or decrease your reaction to the work?

The only opinion I will listen to is the opinion of one Daryl Surrat. Wait, no-

It's true that I would have preferred Anno make something new besides Evangelion (and it's my hope that he will yet do so).

But he wasn't a one-hit wonder; Nadia was very successful on TV, and prior to that, Gunbuster had been a surprise success in the OAV market ("surprise," because Bandai expected a hit more from Patlabor. Not to put Bandai down--when they collaborated with Gainax, good things resulted). Evangelion overshadowed things so much that people forget when it came out in 1995, it was viewed as Gainax's comeback, not the start of their story.

People have been saying Evangelion is overrated since it ended in 1996. I'm not sure what that really means in practical terms. If you look at the anime in isolation, there are certainly different directions by which you can criticize it. But whatever Eva's shortcomings are, it created a phenomenon other anime series didn't, and certainly many series tried to be "the next Evangelion."

If it was all a flavor of the month, foisted on stupid audiences by giving them cute girls to watch and psychobabble to listen to, well...you'd think other anime would have been able to pull off the same trick, right? There should have been a dozen series since then as big as Evangelion, fooling the ignorant masses with variations on the same scam. I wish it actually were that easy--it would mean TV anime would be much more successful than it actually is.

It's the same thing with Pulp Fiction. You can certainly criticize the film itself, then, or now, but when it came out in 1994, I remember the film was a cultural and critical phenomenon (and considering its low budget, a great financial success as well). And yes, people rushed to try and imitate it with "talk a lot and kill a lot" films, like their name was Ladd Russo, and no, it turned out it wasn't that easy.

It's not that a critic's opinion isn't valid when something is a popular success. It's just that a well-reasoned argument for why something shouldn't be true (that a bunch of people liked something and rated it highly) doesn't actually make it not true, let alone open a door in time to make it retroactively not true. One may accept the critic's arguments in 1996 or in 2009 as to why Evangelion is overrated, but that doesn't answer the separate question of why people actually did rate it highly, or why they didn't come to the same conclusion as the critic, if it is the more sensible one.

My problem with people saying "_________ is overrated is not that they might dislike what I like" My problem is that it comes across as a veiled attempt to say "I think this is mediocre! or "I think this sucks! Who's with me?"

Hate what you hate, but don't cheer-lead about it. Good for you, you "figured it out." You're not Obama and this isn't a campaign.

If Eva's been less than great for 2 decades and people are still pumped about it, why fight about it for so long?

The lesson I learned from all this is that if I don't just automatically delete Daniel Zelter's posts in which he always, always, ALWAYS makes some offhanded remark about something that's sure to be "incendiary," you people take the bait every goddamned time and hijack the conversation in the same direction that it ALWAYS gets hijacked in because you're all suckers. I should have just deleted the Patlabor WXIII question outright and none of this would've happened, but I didn't because I thought "well, we mentioned Patlabor and the special edition releases of the movies, so it's technically on-topic...." But no, that was just an opening gambit for the real bait, which too many people JUST COULDN'T IGNORE. AGAIN.

You want to chase your tails in the same circular, neverending Ouroboros that is "Evangelion discussion," that's fine and dandy. But go do it on the ANN forums (y'know, where they ACTUALLY REVIEWED the new movie?), a dedicated community, or somewhere where the show was at least mentioned and discussed at length. In other words, somewhere appropriate for it.

This podcast had precisely fuck all to do with Gainax, Hideaki Anno, Evangelion, depression, pervy merchandising opportunities, indecisive protagonists, or anything else where you could reasonably say "but you see, EVANGELION..." and have it actually fit in with the topic. I can tolerate a casual offhanded mention of something unrelated in a post, but it's when people latch onto that something and conclude "you know, what I REALLY need to talk about across several posts in the comments section of a podcast about Astro Fighter Sunred, Ristorante Paradiso, and Sword of the Stranger is Hidamari Sketch!" that's when I start wondering if anyone's actually watching or considering responding to what we're recommending at all.

Here's a new, novel anime discussion topic: what do you think about these shows we reviewed this episode? Do you, I don't know, like or dislike them? Are there details we neglected to bring up, or areas you would have liked for us to expand upon but did not? Any personal anecdotes you wish to relate about your experiences with watching them?

I come to the comments expecting to see someone respond to my weak attempt to superficially relate the thematic core elements of the samurai period drama with the Western, or perhaps clue me in as to the other theatrical anime films that are genre vehicles which I couldn't think of, and instead all I get is "but, but, but how about QUENTIN TARANTINO AND THE HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY PROJECT? Wouldn't that make a bitchin' band name?"

You're totally right, but more often than not, a conversation thread doesn't stick to what was originally being discussed. Besides, everyone's not going off in their own direction. This is a long-ass thread, and the podcast has been discussed.

Daryl, I see your point and I apologize--although you have discussed the controversy vis-a-vis vous et Eva lately. Of course, I may have also missed the point that this controversy sprung from a brief remark you made some time ago, and the truth is, you're not really that interested in either praising or denouncing the series. Hence it was a mistake for me to respond for that reason, too.

In my defense, I did talk about P2 and X, actual items mentioned in #83, in my first response. But I do use A.W.O. for its intended purpose--that is, I go check out things that you review. Often, however, I won't get around to it for a while, just because, well, work and all that. For example, I don't have anything to say about Sunred or Sword of the Stranger yet because I'm 3/4 of the way through Baccano!, based on your recommendation in #77a. But Gerald and yourself sold me on both of the anime you discussed, so I'll probably be catching up with them around #89 or so...

Clarissa, Ono Natsume's style caught my eye last year. My first impression of her work was that it reminded me of jazzy 1950s American design, a bit like John Hubley. Maybe that's a strange comparison, as the one thing Mr. Magoo didn't have was glasses.

Since you mentioned "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" in this show and that it had limited appeal to broad audiences (personally I thought it was great, but I see how something like that would be a problem to push into theaters), I thought I'd ask what people thought about "Summer Wars", the latest Mamoru Hosoda/ Satoko Okudera collaboration. I'll admit that I'm only posting this since it got leaked (a korean version, which got over-subbed). I was too tempted and watched this version (and it's very clear that this is a film that was designed for HD). I'll definitely get the BD when it comes out -- it's excellent and certainly has the same type of "heart" that "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" had (as Daryl put it when he reviewed it).If you're going to watch it, I'd just say that this is a type of film that you shouldn't look up the plot for, anywhere. If you liked "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", there's a 90% chance you'll like this one, and you should avoid reading the numerous spoiler-ish summaries all over the web prior to seeing it.I'll really be looking forward to further works by Hosoda/Okudera.

Here's a question. I got hold of Astro Fighter Sunred in advance of listening to the podcast, 'sight-unseen' as it were, because from the title I thought it might be some kind of space-fighter pilot Gradius/Area88/Godannar with space ships rather than mecha type thing. Having now listened to the podcast I'm gonna watch a few episodes to see if I like it; it does sound interesting, but it clearly isn't what I randomly envisioned from the title - can you guys think of anything that does sound like the show I described initially? Newish is preferable, since this the kind of thing that doesn't get made much anymore and I'd love to see what it looks like in the contemporary Japanese eye, but old is good too. Any suggestions?

I saw Sword of the Stranger today, and love it. I can't believed how good it is. thank you to talking about it, of course they was never any doubt. Of all the podcasts I listening to (anime or otherwise) you are one of two that don't let me down on want to watch (the other is the werd podcast).

Daryl: Fine, I'll stroke your ego. [Insert gay joke here.] You praised Toriko on a certain nameless site, so I gave that SJ page with the anime preview a whirl, and I'm digging it. It's a shame the manga is only going to have a brief spread in the SJUSA, with no confirmation of a TPB run, since I can imagine it being more fun in the long run than Ultimo and Bakuman. But I'm glad to have checked it out, since, outside of Eyeshield, Claymore, Kurohime, and even Ultimate Muscle, I generally skip the recent stuff. [And Kurohime's already losing me right now.] Ok, I'll admit I read Rosario+Vampire, too, but only because it's like Reborn without the weak supporting cast. So thanks.

vich: Speaking of overrated, I'm disappointed by both versions of Oldboy, but am still glad that Spielberg and Will Smith dropped their remake, because they'd fuck with it the way Cronenberg fucked with AHOV. Though I will say that the manga had a better build-up than the movie, which just seemed to be fairly masturbatory.

Carl: "But he wasn't a one-hit wonder; Nadia was very successful on TV, and prior to that, Gunbuster had been a surprise success in the OAV market"

But Nadia was a Miyazaki idea. And while Gunbuster might have made money, it's still more of an Okada thing than an Anno thing. And you can tell, because Anno's non-Okada stuff tends to be irritating as hell.

"If it was all a flavor of the month, foisted on stupid audiences by giving them cute girls to watch and psychobabble to listen to, well...you'd think other anime would have been able to pull off the same trick, right?'

I think Eva just happened to come out at the right time, after the end of that real estate bubble in Japan, and right after the Kobe earthquake and subway sarin gas attack. It tapped into the zeitgeist of the disillusionment of youth who didn't like being forced to follow in the footsteps of their parents' office jobs after busting their humps off in cram schools and universities, because the real jobs got demolished during the slump. And likewise, Eva succeeded here, because it tapped into the Gen X/Boomer divide. I do feel other anime have been able to do better than Eva, such as Utena, and most of Satoshi Kon's output, but they just had the misfortune of getting there last.

"It's the same thing with Pulp Fiction. You can certainly criticize the film itself, then, or now, but when it came out in 1994, I remember the film was a cultural and critical phenomenon (and considering its low budget, a great financial success as well). And yes, people rushed to try and imitate it with "talk a lot and kill a lot" films, like their name was Ladd Russo, and no, it turned out it wasn't that easy."

Well, it's easy if you rip off and/or remake obscure movies not readily available in most places, like what Sergio Leone did with A Fistful of Dollars and Lucas with Star Wars. But you try doing quality noir films like Memento, and that actually takes some thought. Anyway, the only reason PF did as well as it did, was because Blockbuster Video and cable were the only ways you could catch most accessible movies back then, while you had to hunt down everything else through Mom and Pop stores and import places. That's why he had a harder time with Grindhouse-cus people had already seen that shit before.

Great podcast guys. I think I might watch Sunred again one of these days, the last thing I watched was that insect monster episode. I find this podcast strangely... addicting... so I'll start to listen to your posts all the way until episode 1. Hope I'm not stealing RAM bandwidth or anything (sorry for not donating just yet). And I hope you continue being funny and bringing justice to every underrated anime out there that needs to be mentioned.

Can you guys try to do a review on this comedy anime called Sugoiyo Masaru-san? It's this 90's anime that is pretty funny like Sunred and very outright strange like Cromartie. I loved every single episode of it, and I hope you guys would check this and enjoy this too. Peace.

Carl: I have to say that you're really fortunate to have become an anime/manga fan during the Gatchaman/Starblazers/Robotech era, cus I got into the scene during the Akira/Ninja Scroll/Ghost in the Shell era. And I have to say that, up until Pokemon and Gundam Wing, those were really tough times to be a fan. I mean, yeah, you could catch titles companies may never put out on home video or publish again, but to wear that shit on your sleeve was another story.

For example, just a few months ago, I saw a Narutard cosplaying on the street, and with a chick, no less. For all I know, she was related to him, but that was not something American anime fanboys owned up to in the 90s, unless they wanted to get mocked and harassed. Fuck, there was some prick in college I knew who threw me under the bus and called that shit "pornomation" pretty soon after I let him borrow some fansubs, even thought he was into Macross, himself.

And then there was high school. My problem was I was behind the times back then. It was partly because the 90s were bipolar when it came to how people embraced entertainment. One minute, they love Michael Mann's Heat; then the next is some 2-d song-and-dance jerk-fest from Don Bluth or Jeff Katzenberg; and then it's some shitty rom-com with Julia Bullock. When you think about it, even Japan seemed to have suffered similar problems with their stuff. [I mean, look at Kenshin, for example. That thing can't decide whether it wants to go in a positive direction, or tap into some "dark" back-story which kills the mood, but supposedly enhances the character development, for some inexplicable reason. Think http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1954882/quantum_of_solace_proposed_theme_song/ without the irony.]

Anyway, so, the dudes I tried to make friends with either only watched DBZ, or somehow thought stupid shit like ID4 or the LA Spawn were superior to anime in general. And the chicks either "hate Asian cinema" or they sat through innane shit like Dawson's Creek or Party of Five, thus taking away my hard-on. [Yeah, anyone who hates Twilight or HSM should be forced to listen to Hanson or watch Drive Me Crazy, Clockwork Orange-style, before they ridicule this generation of teen viewers. At least the writers nowadays try to even pretend to make their fluff "digestable".]

So, in desperation, I tried to actually come off more "suave" by passing around the Viz Crying Freeman. "Yo baby, this is a real man right here! Ya dig?!" But ironically, they considered me a perv, while they had no problem with the gay-bashing wigger next to me who referred to women as bitches and hos. Anyway, anyone who fucking complains about Naruto on the Disney Channel or Zac Efron as Light in Death Note should trade places with my ass 15 years ago, if they want anime and manga to be "niche" that badly. Now that period was utter hell. When you're actually embracing advice from a comment from Todd McFarlane about overcoming the ridiculed of liking a particular medium, you know you've hit bottom.

vichuss: Well, even Otsuka and Miyazaki think anime's better when the technology's less advanced. But that's not really the issue here. The issue is that the era Carl was in was more open to a niche like anime than the era I was in. You should've seen ANN's request convincing everyone possible to see the Disney dub of Princess Mononoke when the movie finally got released stateside in theaters. They acknowledged what we were all feeling at the time, which was outsiders who had to deal with that shit being called porn. Hell, Justin and Zac just made a joke on a recent podcast about how hard it was to meet female fans of the genre back in the day. Anyone from Carl's generation was fortunate, 'cus they got their feet into the doors of proto-American industry right when comics in general were still profitable. When the latter shit crashed, anyone who literally still bought into it was looked down as a pariah. [See Jason Lee's character in Mallrats.] Sure, MIB+Blade might have made money, but they were not marketed as comic book movies. And being an anime/manga fan was even worse, because the only kind of exposure we had was the bad kind, even though Frank Miller and Robert Crumb pretty much got away with the same shit in their work. [Though the Crumb in that documentary would've probably ironically been used as an indictment of those readers in general.] But if you watched a shitty movie based on a cartoon, [*cough* Flintstones, Casper, Space Jam, Inspector Gadget, etc. *cough*] you were fine.

As for people acknowledging it, I'm sure there were quite a few more people who did so during Carl's era than my era. Yes, more people watched it in the 90s, but you really only had a few die-hards who were open about it, and those were usually the people who did that shit for a living. Gawd, ironically, it was easier to be a porn collector than an anime fan back then.

Hey guys at the AWO.Loving the way you guys promote anime,no matter in what way or manner.I've a question for you guys,in particular Daryl.

I'm a Malaysian(you can expect how much shitty subs we have),who has been influenced by anime in all shapes and forms.In particular,I remembered watching an old animation/cartoon involving the tale of Krishna against whatever his name was.The only thing I could remember about it was Krishna/Vishnu/whoever it was throwing his discus and slicing off a demon's head,and following that,the demon's body became a green hill in a bloody short time.

Do you know what animation/cartoon this is?Just saying that I'll post this message in your e-mail and your comments.Keep up the good work.

I'll go out on a limb here and state that NO era of anime fandom was free of potentially crushing deficits. The tradeoff in the 80s, for example, was the glacial pace of information flow. The only way to reliably follow anything was to learn enough Japanese to read the monthly magazines. That's if you could even FIND the monthly magazines. That's if they actually showed up somewhere within a few months of being published.

Products were extremely difficult to find. Missing episodes of things likewise. Any form of translation at all was a gold mine. Almost nothing was subbed. Tape-trading took weeks or months at a time. That's after you did the work of getting into a trading circle. In other words, the supply chain was weak and extraordinarily demanding.

The good side? Most of what was made back then was worth watching. And there was no such thing as peer pressure. We were all strangers in a strange land.

And I'd do it all over again. Happily. Discovering new and cool things for the first time never gets old.

It's an old movie I used to watch.If I'm not wrong,it's roughly 80/90s animation style and only shown during either one of the 2 important Hindu holidays/festivals.Sorry for being unable to provide more details.

Ramayana - Prince of Light - Looks like it takes place in the same mythology as Hanuman. About a prince who has to gather forces to rescue his princess.

I also by chance found this crazy anime called Madara, which is basically the same as the Dororo story- dude has fake body parts, kills demons to be normal again. It has wolf punching in it, so that's why I was into the trailer.

Well, this is where I jump off. I can't find it. I guess that's why you need a Daryl Surat to help you with that one.

You know what?I think it is Ramayana.The problem is,my version of Ramayana I saw involved the demon's head(or was it heads?)getting chopped off,instead of the demon's torso(or was I too young to remember?).

Thanks for the reply,guys.

P.S.:No way in hell did I remember looking at Clamp artwork AND hearing Hindi at the same time.

Small errata: In Ristorante Paradiso "Casetta dell´Orso" means "Bear´s Little House" (not Cave, which would have been arguably better :)) I guess it could be a ref. to Goldilocks and the 3 BearsKeep up the great work guys!